Well, it has never been tried so far. At least on a larger scale. As far as trickle down economy goes though, we do have at the very least one experience where it was directly applied to a state in the US, like Kansas? I think? Not sure. But I remember they simply cut taxes - by a lot - while at the same time decreasing government spending, defunding of schools and many other government expenditures with the intention to boost the economy. The result? They had to roll it all back. Hard. The economy nearly tanked as a result. So there is that.
I believe, if we have even a chance to make the UBI somehow work, we really should give it at the very least a shot. It's worth a try. There have been several occasions in history where the deficit for the budged has been increased and strained and always for rather questionable stuff, like military spending and the like. Why not allow a whole state to "test" it, if the population choses it? Have a referendum on it and when people decide for it, test it for 5 years. Why not simply try it, like they did it with Trickle-Down economy. Governments certainly do not shy away from cutting taxes like crazy when it comes to corporations while blowing up the budged. So they are willing to take risks at least on one side of the spectrum.
And second I think you completely underestimate the positive effects this could have on people just in relieve alone. Anxiety, depressions, drug abuse and many other issues which are on their way to become common illness will decrease, so it will save lives there can be no doubts about it or the benefits of easier access to healthy food and actually taking medical treatments without postponing them which makes them often more severe. Those are benefits which can not be easily measured in direct money but still play a tremendous importance on the physical and mental well beings of the population. I've been working for nearly half a decade in the social sector an I could see hundreds of opportunities where it would immediately improve the situations of people.
What you could look at, for example, is the German Project "Mein Grundeinkommen" a sort of lottery financed trough charity where they chose a number of people which get each month a 1000 euros for one year, the intention is a sort of testing ground simply to see what people would do with that money and the project has been active since 2014. So far 561 people from 182.243 participants already received it. The experience by it so far, seems to be overly positive. Particularly to the people which are having serious issues to make ends meet.
The experiences and examples continue to pile up - at least in relatively small samples but I think we will see more and bigger testing and experience in the near future - and so far it seems to be positive. None I heard of ceased to work entirely, most people simply lowered their work load a bit and the overwhelming majority used it for something positive. Quite a few used their UBI to become entrepreneurs or starting projects they always wanted to try but never had the time or opportunity to start.
I do believe the cases that speak for it at least on an ideological basis become stronger and stronger the more time is passing. The only question which has to be solved is really in finding a way to finance it. But seriously this doesn't worry me really. If our species managed to put someone on the moon and a robot on Mars, then we will one day figure out a way to make that happen as well.
I believe, if we have even a chance to make the UBI somehow work, we really should give it at the very least a shot. It's worth a try. There have been several occasions in history where the deficit for the budged has been increased and strained and always for rather questionable stuff, like military spending and the like. Why not allow a whole state to "test" it, if the population choses it? Have a referendum on it and when people decide for it, test it for 5 years. Why not simply try it, like they did it with Trickle-Down economy. Governments certainly do not shy away from cutting taxes like crazy when it comes to corporations while blowing up the budged. So they are willing to take risks at least on one side of the spectrum.
And second I think you completely underestimate the positive effects this could have on people just in relieve alone. Anxiety, depressions, drug abuse and many other issues which are on their way to become common illness will decrease, so it will save lives there can be no doubts about it or the benefits of easier access to healthy food and actually taking medical treatments without postponing them which makes them often more severe. Those are benefits which can not be easily measured in direct money but still play a tremendous importance on the physical and mental well beings of the population. I've been working for nearly half a decade in the social sector an I could see hundreds of opportunities where it would immediately improve the situations of people.
What you could look at, for example, is the German Project "Mein Grundeinkommen" a sort of lottery financed trough charity where they chose a number of people which get each month a 1000 euros for one year, the intention is a sort of testing ground simply to see what people would do with that money and the project has been active since 2014. So far 561 people from 182.243 participants already received it. The experience by it so far, seems to be overly positive. Particularly to the people which are having serious issues to make ends meet.
The experiences and examples continue to pile up - at least in relatively small samples but I think we will see more and bigger testing and experience in the near future - and so far it seems to be positive. None I heard of ceased to work entirely, most people simply lowered their work load a bit and the overwhelming majority used it for something positive. Quite a few used their UBI to become entrepreneurs or starting projects they always wanted to try but never had the time or opportunity to start.
I do believe the cases that speak for it at least on an ideological basis become stronger and stronger the more time is passing. The only question which has to be solved is really in finding a way to finance it. But seriously this doesn't worry me really. If our species managed to put someone on the moon and a robot on Mars, then we will one day figure out a way to make that happen as well.
